The book is always better than the movie.

I just don't understand this: Why can't Hollywood take a perfectly good story line and accurately transpose it to film? Understandably, cuts must sometimes be made for the sake of time, but the basic storyline should stay in tact. No one seems to care about the integrity of the story!

This rant follows my viewing of My Sister's Keeper. I decided I wanted to see a movie tonight, and I knew that there wasn't a soul to take, and even if there was, I can't drag anyone I know to see a sad movie. Perfect. That means I can cry alone in a dark theater without the embarrassment of family & friends passing me greasy popcorn napkins. If you care about the plot-- beware of spoilers.

Although I wasn't thrilled about My Sister's Keeper, I figured this was the opportunity to see it. I read the book, and I have this annoying habit of imagining the movie (or play) while reading the book. I knew it could make a fantastic movie! But the screenwriter failed to develop the characters and wasted a lot of time with montages of nothingness. The lone brother walked around town a lot doing nothing. Seriously, there were about three scenes of this. Do you know what he's doing in the book? Burning shit. Way cooler. But no, the choice was just to have him wandering a city & hopping on & off a bus (The kid is supposed to be old enough to drive-- can we at least get a solid fast car scene?).

And I'm just not ready to buy Cameron Diaz as the mother of teenagers. I guess she wants to push her limits from silly to serious, but she's simply not convincing. I don't know why I'm willing to buy Jennifer Anniston as a mother in Marley & Me, but not Cameron Diaz. She just isn't very maternal, I think. Sorry, Cameron.

Then-- the ending! The ending is totally different! Like, not even CLOSE to the same! The WRONG KID DIES! That is a major flaw in the adaptation. Basically, the screenwriter failed to write the entire climax. You want to make someone cry? People die of cancer. Kids die. We've seen this in movies, read it in books. You make people cry by killing the HEALTHY sister. Jodi Piccoult understood this-- she twisted your expectations. Hollywood fail. Book win.

Gah. I'm disappointed. A tear-jerker can't even make me cry. You just make me mad about the writing & direction! You know you suck at making tear-jerker movies when Katie isn't crying. Get a new job.

/end rant.